About

Artist/Arts Educator based in Dundee

BA (Hons) 1st Class Fine Art

MFA (with Distinction) Art & Humanities

My journey with art and design began with a single pencil.

Art gave me the ability to lose myself in a drawing for days or weeks on end. I have always been inspired by the creative process artists and designers journey through, from the initial inspiration to the final product.

Both equally interested in art and design, in high school I decided I wanted to study a creative subject to degree level. Unsure of what it was lead to in the future, I resolved to take the risk.

I spent four wonderful years at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design studying for my degree in Fine Art. There I experimented with every art and design process under the sun, from metal sculpture to digital artwork. Through this, drawing always remained a huge part of my personal creative process.

During this time in 2014 I began working with Access to Creative Education in Scotland (A.C.E.S), a programme to help students prepare for an artistic degree at college level or higher. It was empowering to be able to pass on my artistic knowledge and share my passion for higher education with students, then to watch them flourish as they developed their own artistic style and even celebrate as they were accepted into various higher education courses.

I knew then that I wanted to somehow combine my love of art and design with education, but not in the conventional school setting.

In 2015 I began volunteering at a care home in Dundee, running art workshops for the residents living there. I was fascinated to see first hand how those living with dementia in particular loved creating artwork and how positive an influence it had on them. This inspired my final year dissertation entitled: ‘Can art therapy alleviate symptoms for people living with dementia?’ where I used my experiences at the care home as case studies.

I graduated with a 1st Class BA (Hons) in Fine Art in April 2017. To the present day I continue my work with A.C.E.S and volunteering at the care home.

Just after my graduation I was honoured to be chosen to receive a Scholarship and stipend from the William Sangster Phillips Fund to further continue my studies at Dundee University.

From September 2017 I began the outstanding MFA Art & Humanities Postgraduate course at Duncan of Jordanstone. This unique course allowed me to continue my art practice while studying a humanities subject alongside. I chose to study philosophy, which fed into my art practice. The study of the human psyche and consciousness fed into my Master’s show artwork which focused on light and automatic drawing.

I graduated with an MFA in Art & Humanities with Distinction in November 2018.

I was thrilled to become a staff member at V&A Dundee in late 2018. I had watched the incredible architecture being constructed from the very first day so to finally be inside the building and as a member of staff was amazing. I believe that enriching lives through creativity is incredibly important. My role as a Freelance Designer at V&A Dundee allows me to use my passion for art and design to engage with people of all ages. From young children through to students and community groups, I have been involved in running the learning space workshops at V&A Dundee.

No matter what age, the best comment I hear is when someone first thought that art or design was a subject out of their reach and ends up surprising themselves by creating something wonderful.